2 Chronicles 5: 11-14         

Music Celebration Sunday     

May 5, 2024

Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell III

“When the song was raised… the house of the Lord was filled.”

Prayer: Holy One, may our house be filled with your Spirit. Amen.

What a great day this is! A day to celebrate our music program, our singers, our musicians, and our directors! What a great day to acknowledge just how much worshiping God is enhanced Sunday after Sunday with music that stirs our hearts. And we believe stirs God’s heart, too. What a great day to say, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!” Amen? Amen!

You know, back in ancient Israel, King Solomon spoke those words when he dedicated the newly built temple in Jerusalem. The story in 2nd Chronicles 5 goes that all the priests and all the singers and musicians with all their instruments came forward. Everyone was dressed to the nines, in full regalia, in their finest ceremonial dress clothing made out of linen, so the Bible says. I picture something like the Penn State band and flag-bearers in their finest dress uniforms coming onto the field at the beginning of a game. Wow! What energy!

And I quote from 2 Chronicles 5:13 “it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord…” And when they did that… “when the song was raised... the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud…” 2nd Chronicles tells us that it was so amazing and glorifying that even the priests were so mesmerized they couldn’t perform their priestly functions. The energy of the Spirit filled the space of the temple and the space of their hearts.

And that’s when King Solomon spoke those words, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel.”

What our music program does, I think, is open us to the energy of God’s Holy Spirit. When we raise the song to God, the presence of God can fill this place. We feel God’s energy! It can make our faces glow with smiles and warmth. It can make our feet tap to the beat, or our necks bob giving a hint that we’re really dancing on the inside. Or we sit and listen, in awe by how we can feel God through the song. As we felt when our kids sang… or when we prayed the Lord’s Prayer in song. And there’s more music to come!

I, for one, need that to happen in our worship space and in the space of my heart. I want to raise the song to God. Because somehow this creative, life-building force binds us together. Somehow everything on this earth, maybe even in the universe, is connected to the Holy One.

I need to feel that connection with God. Because it’s a connection with the life-giving power that satiates our spiritual hunger. That quenches our spiritual thirst.

So let us to raise the song! Raise the song to the One who calls us children of God. Who says we are relatives. Part of the family. Loved ones.

Raise the song to the One who gathers us together not because we’ve been good, but because we are loved.

Raise the song because God dances with us… even in the rain.

Raise the song because God shouts with us, for peace, justice, equity, acceptance, and harmony among the people.

Raise the song because God sings love songs to us and to this sacred planet earth.

Raise the song because God prays with us as we pray, blessing us as we are blessed. Prayers that come from the depths, uttered as whispers from our inner being.

Raise the song because God walks with us. For the long haul. For every day. Because we walk together children. Because we know that the secret to life is being in tune with God all the time.

Thank you, everyone in our music program, for helping us raise the song, and for helping this sanctuary space and our hearts be filled.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Then all the people said, “Amen!” Amen! Praise the Lord!